Stay with Me

Harry had spent Christmas eve and day with his family, but now it was time for him to pack his bags and go back to London to celebrate with the second part of his family. He hadn’t heard back from Elizabeth and he didn’t really expect to hear anything from her ever again but the thought of texting her one final time did haunt his mind from time to time.

The terrible feeling in his stomach and the emptiness in his chest had gone away along with the anger but still things didn’t feel completely right for the singer. “Honey, I made some chocolate cake for you to take to London.” A small smile played on Harry’s lips as his mum handed him the cake.

He hated how small the number of days were that he got to spend with his family in Holmes Chapel and leaving them never got any easier. “I’ll miss you, mum.” The teen tells his mother who now can no longer hold back the overwhelming emotions as she starts to tear up. The elder lady quickly throws her arms around her sound, squeezing him against her tightly. “Promise you’ll come visit a couple of time on tour again, okay? I’ll pay.” He whispers into his mother’s ear, causing her to choke up even worse.

“You’re an amazing young man… and as much as I hated letting go of you at such a young age, you proved to me that you can take on the world. You’re a man now… but you’ll always be my little boy.” Anne cries, holding her son’s face in her hands. “I love you, Harry… now go before I start crying even worse.” She then manages to cough up a fake laugh.



Louis smiles at his best friend as he hands him his drink. “Merry Christmas!” He calls out as they all hit their glasses against each other’s. They had all decided they wouldn’t be buying presents for one another this year but instead just go out and each have a drink instead.

The five boys sit huddled around a small table in an Irish Pub in downtown London, discussing how their Christmas was spent and mainly how it was finally seeing their family’s again. “Where’s your fiancé, Zayn?” Louis asks loudly, smirking as the word ‘fiancé’ leaves his lips.

“Spending some time with the girls, I guess.” Zayn shrugs while putting down his beer and grabbing his pack of cigarettes instead. “No one minds me having a smoke, right?” He asks before putting his lighter to the end of his cigarette. When none of the others oblige he happily burns the tip while sucking in the nicotine filled air.

Harry looks down at his pint, sighing lightly before putting the large glass against his lips and quickly downing the pint. “That’s what I like to see!” Niall calls out happily, following Harry’s actions and downing his pint as well – a bit faster than Harry, that is. “Let’s get something stronger in, okay?” Niall suggests to which Harry happily agrees. The boys are out to get drunk tonight, not just drunk – absolutely mortal. “If you don’t piss yourself tonight, I’ll be disappointed…” Niall laughs before jumping to hit feet and quickly making his way over to the bar.

The bottled-blonde leans against the bar casually as he waits for the waiter to see him. “Ah, Niall…” The brown haired man smiles at him. “What can I get you, mate?” He asks while pouring a drink for another client.

“Can I get two gin tonics? Make ‘em strong for me, please, Nick.” He asks politely waiting for Nick’s nod of approval. Niall then turns around, resting his elbows on the bar as he looks around the bar. His eyes land on a dark-haired girl, she’s incredibly pale and her cheekbones are popping out slightly – something about her is familiar but Niall can’t seem to put his finger to it just yet.

“Here’s your drinks, you can pay all of them later. The extra is on the house.” Niall nods before grabbing a hold of the two glasses that are filled with 10cl of gin each, he then grabs the glass bottles between his index finger and middle finger. The blonde carefully walks his way back to the table where his friends are seated.

“Aye, aye!” He yells, putting the drinks down in front of Harry. “Let’s get our drink on!”



Elizabeth looks down at her chewed-off fingernails, scratching at the hardened skin around her thumb before bringing it to her mouth and chewing off some skin. She carefully grabs the piece of skin from in between her teeth then wipes it on her worn out jeans. “Hey, quit that… that’s a nasty habit.” Her quirky friend says, slapping Elizabeth’s hand.

“One to add to my list of many others.” The pessimistic, young girl smiles at Esther.

“Well woe, is me. Do something about them then… start by no longer chewing off your nails! Take care of your body.” Esther complains before taking a sip of her margarita cocktail. Elizabeth puts her hand vertically against her forehead as if she’s in the military before making a clicking noise causing Esther to roll her eyes. “Have you spoken to Harry at all?”

“Yes…” Elizabeth starts off with a smug smirk. Esther was the one that pushed Elizabeth to send Harry a text at some point, she wanted Ella to tell him goodbye properly. “I wished him a merry Christmas.”

“Ella…” Esther sighs frustrated, running her fingers through her hair. “Whaaaaaaaat?” The dark haired girl asks innocently. “You know what! You were supposed to tell him why you left!” At that Ella’s eyes seem to darken, she glares at her friend and lets a soft growl escapes her lips.

Elizabeth was determined to never talk to Harry Styles again. She refused to let her mind or heart miss him. She was convinced that feelings were only temporary, even those of friendship. Elizabeth Stone considered herself incapable of loving another human being. Even one who helped her through the darkest times.